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Rob Fenn

Head of Human Rights and Democracy Department, FCO

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30th June 2014 London, UK

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by Rob Fenn

Head of Human Rights and Democracy Department, FCO

London Pride has been handed down to us; London Pride is a flower that’s free.

What do human rights and democracy have to do with each other (besides both featuring in the name of my department, HRDD)? And how does the work we do on democracy – which can seem nebulous – fit together with human rights work, which is easier to pigeonhole? Or with my favourite Noel Coward song […]

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19th May 2014 London, UK

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by Rob Fenn

Head of Human Rights and Democracy Department, FCO

Remembrance on the way to the coffee shop (what connects IHRA and R2P?)

My department moved offices last week – from rooms “in need of modernisation” on the third floor of the Foreign and Commonwealth Office, down to freshly refurbished accommodation on the grand first floor. We’re more densely packed down there (“warm-desking”), but morale is high and the coffee shop closer. My new route to mid-morning latte […]

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11th April 2014 London, UK

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by Rob Fenn

Head of Human Rights and Democracy Department, FCO

Human Rights, DNA and the Higgs Boson?

Yesterday, when launching the FCO’s Annual Human Rights Report, the Foreign Secretary said: “Human rights are part of the lifeblood of the Foreign Office because they are part of our national DNA – our character as a people – and because they are vital to our national interest”. This formulation of our Ministers’ view that […]

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2nd April 2014 London, UK

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by Rob Fenn

Head of Human Rights and Democracy Department, FCO

Week One in Human Rights and Democracy Department, FCO, London

Start as you mean to go on, they say. Not easy, given the climactic nature of my first full week in charge of the FCO’s Human Rights and Democracy Department. Truth be told, this was the climax of my predecessor’s tenure – plans laid by her and my new colleagues, months ago, coming to fruition […]

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3rd July 2013 London, UK

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by Rob Fenn

Head of Human Rights and Democracy Department, FCO

Breaking the Sound Barrier with BEDB

First of all I would like to convey my sincere gratitude to the British High Commission to Brunei Darussalam for giving me the opportunity to post an article on the British High Commissions’ blog regarding my view on the Innovation Forum: UK-Southeast Asia Innovation, Design and Technology Forum which was held on Friday, 7th June 2013 in Singapore.

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10th May 2013 London, UK

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by Rob Fenn

Head of Human Rights and Democracy Department, FCO

Sajak CSCLeaders / CSCLeaders Poems

In this guest blog, Hajah Aidah shares with us three poems that she wrote for the CSCLeaders conference , where she represented the Sultanate. CSCLeaders is a series of Conferences for exceptional leaders, which assembles individuals from across the Commonwealth to tackle challenges that government, businesses and society face today and builds the relationships needed […]

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3rd May 2013 London, UK

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by Rob Fenn

Head of Human Rights and Democracy Department, FCO

A Surreal Commonwealth Journey: From Brunei to New Delhi to London

On Commonwealth Day (11 March), as High Commissioners in Bandar were gathering inside the Legislative Council building for our celebration with Pehin Speaker, one Bruneian was flying the flag for the Sultanate inside Marlborough House, at the celebration graced by Her Majesty The Queen. By publishing Fatin’s guest blog here, I have a strong sense […]

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25th April 2013 London, UK

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by Rob Fenn

Head of Human Rights and Democracy Department, FCO

My CSCLeaders Conference Experience

In an earlier blog I described the Commonwealth as “the world’s first social network”, and Bruneians as amongst its most savvy practitioners. You’ll see what I mean in this guest blog by Helen Yeo, one of two professional Bruneian women who are representing the Sultanate in the CSCLeaders programme, in London, Manchester, Oxford, Mumbai – […]

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17th April 2013 London, UK

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by Rob Fenn

Head of Human Rights and Democracy Department, FCO

Common Law

Do you know what QC stands for? And why Queen Elizabeth I coined the term? My sister-in-law, Poonam Melwani QC, came to Brunei last week on holiday. Like many successful women, she seems able to switch like lightning between a host of different roles. She appeared first as a rainforest explorer. At the Ulu Ulu […]

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About Rob Fenn

Rob Fenn has been Head of the FCO’s Human Rights and Democracy Department since March 2014. His last formal responsibility for human rights was in the mid 1990s, when he…

Rob Fenn has been Head of the FCO’s Human Rights and Democracy Department
since March 2014. His last formal responsibility for human rights was in
the mid 1990s, when he served as UK Delegate on the Third Committee of
the General Assembly in New York (with annual excursions to what was
then the Commission on Human Rights in Geneva). Recent celebrations of
the twentieth anniversary of the creation of the post of UN High
Commissioner for Human Rights – a resolution he helped pilot through the
GA – came a shock. The intervening 20 years have flown: in Rome
(EU/Economics), in London (Southern European Department), in Nicosia
(Deputy High Commissioner) and latterly in Bandar Seri Begawan.
Rob,
Julia and their two sons loved Brunei, where British High Commissioners
are made especially welcome. The family’s activities included regular
walks in the pristine rainforest, expeditions upriver to help conserve
the Sultanate’s stunning biodiversity, and home movie making (in Brunei
it is almost impossible to take a bad photograph).
After
all those saturated colours, Rob worried that the move back to Britain
might feel like a shift into black and white. But the reunion with
family, friends and colleagues, and the boys’ brave reintegration into a
North London school, have been ample compensation. Julia’s main regret
is that, now she walks on Hampstead Heath, she no longer has an excuse
to carry a machete (“parang”).
Rob’s
problem is summed up in two types of reaction from friends outside the
office. On hearing that he is “in charge of human rights and democracy
at the FCO”, some think it sounds like a vast job: what else is there?
Others think it sounds wishy-washy: not in the national interest. Rob’s
mission is to take the Foreign Secretary’s dictum that “our values are
our interests”, and help his colleagues translate it into action in a
world so varied it can contain both Brunei’s clouded leopard and the
civil war in Syria.

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